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August 15, 2012

Passan On Dysfunctional Red Sox: "This Is The Tip Of The Iceberg"

Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia, named as two of the "ring leaders" of a heated anti-Bobby Valentine meeting with ownership on July 26, did not deny that the substance of Jeff Passan's Yahoo! article yesterday was correct.

[The owners] had a meeting with the players, they had a meeting with the coaches and they had a meeting with Bobby, and it was to assess where we were as a team and as an organization and why we were where we were and what our thoughts were, basically.

We had a meeting -- I'll be honest with everybody -- we had a meeting in New York and the coaches had a meeting, Bobby had a meeting, we all had a meeting, and when I spoke I said we all need to get better -- that includes owners, Bobby, coaches, and especially the players. ...

I'll go out there and play for [Valentine] any day of the week. I'm playing for all my teammates and it's unfortunate that all this stuff comes out. ... It's tough when all this stuff comes out that everyone's trying to get the manager fired. It's not the case, man. I don't know, I've never met the guy who wrote the story. ... I'm not going to blame anything on Bobby. I don't think anybody else is. It's on the players.

The Globe's Nick Cafardo had tweeted last night that Pedroia was angry at how he was presented in the article and denied "ripping" Valentine, but there were no Pedroia quotes to that effect in Cafardo's report. Pedroia did was express regret that the story had come out.

As far as Pedroia saying he had never met Passan, the writer spoke on ESPN radio this morning:

If that's the best thing that you can come up with, "I don't know the guy," as opposed to "What he's writing and saying is incorrect," then obviously there's some merit to the report. Trust me, I sat on this thing for a couple of weeks when I heard it from a very good, very plugged in source the first time, because I wanted to get confirmation. Obviously their ship is not as tight as they think it is because I was able to get a couple more people on top of that to talk about this.

It's a bad situation. Dustin Pedroia can characterize it however he wants. The fact is he was one of the ring leaders in that meeting. Adrian Gonzalez was front and center as well after sending that text message. ...

[T]his is a dysfunctional team. I feel like this is the tip of the iceberg to be honest, that there's a lot more that's going to come out about this as the team devolves toward September. ...

Passan said he had sat on the story for a couple of weeks, hoping for further confirmation. Back on July 31 - five days after the meeting - Joel Sherman of the Post also mentioned Red Sox "players lobbying ownership for a change" of manager.

[O]fficials who have spoken to their Boston counterparts say the Red Sox believe the best help to their short- and long-term well-being is to begin remedying the faulty culture that has derailed the franchise since last September. Outside officials say the clubhouse dislike for Bobby Valentine is so intense, players lobbying ownership for a change is not an overstatement.

However, many of the clubhouse/organizational problems pre-date Valentine and the manager is not likely to be fired anytime soon. ... Beckett is available because, one NL executive said, Boston's front office feels the righty is a malcontent who has had a negative clubhouse impact ...

In the comments there have been posted official on-the-record statements from some people actually involved in the situation that in my opinion negate the validity of the initial accusations. Are they proof of anything? No, but to my mind they plausibly diffuse much of the incendiary potential the bombshells were meant to produce.

I kind of wish there weren't these definitive blog headlines like "Gonzalez, Pedroia Lead Players Revolt Against Valentine" like they're fact. It feels a little Dennis and Callahan-esque. Of course, it's a step above posting "Ortiz is faking being hurt to get back at ownership" but it feels like both could be headlines at the WEEI site.